I've finished the next chapter. I hope you guys like it.
Disclaimer: i don't own Naruto
Ch. 17: Returning to Kirigakure
Kaoru wasn't sure how she felt about this. She was currently on her way to the village where she had been born and where she spent the first five years of her life. It was also the place where her parents had died. Part of her was scared to go back there. Her nightmares had slowly gone away over the years and she was afraid that going back to Kirigakure would bring them back. She didn't complain though. That wouldn't be right. The Mizukage needed a medical nin and she had been selected for the task. It would be wrong to refuse just because she didn't want to have nightmares. Besides, she wasn't alone. Gaara was with her and so was Temari and Sasori.
It had upset the council to realize that Gaara was leaving for an undetermined amount of time but he wouldn't change him mind. As Kaoru's friend he couldn't let her go alone because the place held very painful memories for her. As the Kazekage it was a very good opportunity to develop a friendly relationship with Kirigakure. No one could argue with his logic. The council eventually agreed with Gaara provided that he took two people with him. They had hoped for Kankuro and Temari but no such luck. Gaara had left Baki and Kankuro in charge while he was away. He decided to take Temari and Sasori with him instead. It would keep Sasori out of trouble and Temari also refused to be left behind because Kaoru was her friend.
Gaara kept watch on their way since he didn't sleep on a regular basis anyway. Kaoru was never very far from him once the sun had set. Sasori could see the nervousness in the medics eyes. He was the only one not aware of Kaoru's history. He finally got curious enough to ask, "Why is everyone so nervous about you going to Kirigakure?"
"Well, I lived there until I was five years old. My parents were killed and I was sent to live with my mother's clan in Suna," Kaoru answered with a small sad smile.
"Why didn't you live with your father's clan?"
"They didn't want me. They...hadn't approved of my mother."
Gaara looked at her, "Who was your father's clan? I don't believe you've ever told us."
"It's the Kawaguchi clan."
Temari looked at Kaoru, "Isn't the current head of the clan the top strategist of the village?"
"I believe so. I'm not entirely sure who the head of the clan is now. When I lived there it was my grandfather but he might have retired by now and handed the title to someone else but I'm not sure."
"I guess we'll find out. Were will we be staying while we're there, Gaara-sama?" Temari asked.
Gaara just gave her a 'how the hell am I suppose to know' look then kept walking. Kaoru wasn't sleeping well and he knew it. Part of him wanted to turn around and take her back home but he knew he couldn't. Yuri was the only other medical nin with the kind of skill that Kaoru had and she couldn't come because she had to take care of the hospital. That left Kaoru. He also couldn't refuse to send anyone. That would insult the Land of Water and he couldn't do that. So his only real choice was to send Kaoru and go with her to support her.
They arrived in Kirigakure three days after they had left Suna. The group was welcomed by the Kirigakure council. They were all very solemn looking men and their greetings matched the look. The one that seemed to be the leader stepped forward and nodded to Gaara. He had dark hair that had streaks of gray and amber colored eyes. Kaoru would have guessed him to be in his late thirties to early forties. As a medic she could tell that he was still in shape and could probably still hold his own in a fight.
"Welcome to Kirigakure, Kazekage-sama. I am the head of Kirigakure's council, Daichi. We hope that your trip was uneventful."
Gaara nodded his head in return. His face and voice was emotionless when he replied, "It was."
"Who are the shinobi with you?"
Gaara motioned to each of them as he said their name, "My sister, Temari. A puppet master, Akasun. And our medical nin, Kaoru Tsukino."
It didn't surprise Temari or Kaoru to hear Gaara introduce Sasori by his last name. The group had previously agreed not to give them Sasori's full name since there was a high chance they would recognize it. His face wasn't widely recognized because he had spent most of his time inside the puppet so only his name could give him away. It wasn't a chance they had been willing to take. Sasori's last name wasn't widely known though so it seemed logical to use it. They had also agreed to introduce Kaoru last so that the council would ignore Sasori. It worked.
The council turned their attention to Kaoru, "So you're Suna's top medical nin. If I'm correct you're originally from here."
Kaoru gave her usual sweet smile, "Oh, I don't know about the top medical nin but I'm good. Yes, I lived in Kirigakure until I was about five years old."
Like everyone that received that smile the council responded. Each smiled in return and relaxed. Temari found herself smirking. It was impossible not to like Kaoru. The medic was very kind and it was extremely obvious. She wasn't that way because she wanted to gain something from anyone. Kaoru just was naturally accepting and loving. It was difficult not to like someone like that. If anyone ever managed it then that person had serious problems. Even Gaara had liked her when he didn't like anyone. In Temari's mind that was a huge accomplishment.
"Well, we won't waste any of your time. I'm sure you're tired from your journey and would like to rest. Follow me and I'll show you where you'll be staying," the head councilman stated.
"If it's all the same to you sir, I would like to check on the Mizukage first," Kaoru asked in a slightly nervous tone.
"Of course you can." He turned to one of the other council members, "Take the others to the compound."
Then man he had spoke two motioned for the others to follow. Temari and Sasori had stepped forward but Gaara shook his head and said, "I'm staying with Kaoru."
"As you wish, Kazekage-sama," Daichi stated unruffled.
Temari and Sasori followed the other council members to the place they would be staying at for their stay. Gaara and Kaoru followed Daichi to the Mizukage's home. He was laying on his bed and looking decidedly grumpy. Kaoru smiled as she recognized him. He had been the Mizukage when she had lived there. The two kages exchanged nods then the Mizukage's eyes focused on Kaoru.
"You've grown up, Little Kaoru."
"Yes I have, Hayate-sama," Kaoru stated with a smile. She motioned to Gaara as she introduced him, "This is Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage. Gaara-kun this is Hayate-sama, the Mizukage."
Hayate took another look at Gaara. So this was the fourth Kazekage of Suna. The Mizukage had heard that he was young but he had expected Gaara to be at least over 20 but the boy was barely 16 years old. He looked back at Kaoru when he noticed she had come closer. She smiled at him and placed glowing green hands on his temples. He relaxed and allowed her to examine him without any trouble. A few moments later she sat back with a frown.
"Well, I know what's wrong with you but it will take time for me to make the antidote. I'll come in at least once a day to slow the progress of the disease until I can give you the medicine for it."
"How long?" Gaara asked.
"About two weeks. I'll have to find all the ingredients and mix them together properly. The antidote takes about a day to make and some of the ingredients are very rare," Kaoru answered absently as she began to take care of the damage she could fix. "The good news is the disease hasn't spread very far so it will be easy enough to keep it at bay until I can make the medicine."
When Kaoru stood she stumbled from the use of too much chakra. Gaara caught her with little trouble. Once she was steady on her feet again he let her go and she smiled at him. The Mizukage mentally smiled. His voice remained neutral however, "Feel free to stay as long as you wish. You should know that you'll be staying at the Kawaguchi compound. They volunteered to let you stay with them for as long as you're here."
A faint flicker of pain and sadness passed over Kaoru's eyes before she hid it with a smile. Gaara's face was expressionless as usual. The two left Hayate-sama's home. Daichi was waiting for them. He led them to the Kawaguchi compound. Kaoru was deep in thought about the family she had never known. They had never had anything to do with her and as far as she knew they liked it that way. She wondered why they were letting her stay with them now, ten years after she had been sent to live with the Tsukino clan.
Daichi left them at the gate to the compound. A man that was about Kankuro's age walked out of the building. He smiled in greeting, "You must be the Kazekage-sama and Kaoru Kawaguchi. Welcome."
"Tsukino," Gaara stated.
The man blinked, "What?"
"Her name is Kaoru Tsukino," the Kazekage clarified. He had already decided that he didn't like this clan. They had abandoned a scared five year old girl for a decision that hadn't been hers to begin with. Kaoru had been hated by this clan for her parents' choice. He couldn't forgive them for that even if Kaoru could.
Kaoru smiled at Gaara. She felt the anger simmering in him directed at the clan and for some reason it comforted her to know that he was angry on her behalf. She looked at the man, "May I ask what you're name is?"
The man looked back at her and gave a smile, "Of course. My name is Kyo. I'm the current head of the family and your cousin, Kaoru."
"I'm sorry. I don't know you. My father's clan never had anything to do with me or my father after he married my mother. I didn't even know I had an uncle let alone a cousin," Kaoru said apologetically. Kyo had been expecting her to know his name. When she said this something flickered in his eyes. She felt the small wave of regret and guilt. He felt bad for his clan's treatment of her. Kaoru smiled at him, "I can't wait to get to know you though."
Kyo smiled, "Same here, Kaoru Tsukino. Now follow me and I'll lead you to your rooms."
Gaara's room was right next to Kaoru's so he didn't say a single word. The two of them walked into Gaara's room since they both knew Sasori and Temari were inside. The group talked for a moment about how long they would have to stay and why. Eventually Sasori and Temari headed to their rooms. Kaoru turned to Gaara with a smile.
"I better go to bed too. I'll need my strength." She hesitated then said, "Gaara-kun, I know you don't like this clan and I understand why but...try to get along with them."
He watched her for a moment then nodded. She smiled then went to her own room. Kaoru sat down on her bed and stared out the window. She felt exhausted but she couldn't sleep. The dreams would come. She could feel it. When they came she would cry out and disturb Gaara. She didn't want that. The medic couldn't avoid sleep forever though. She fell into a sound sleep a few minutes later.
She was running through the house. It was dark. So dark that she could barely see two steps in front of her. Because of this she didn't know where she was or where she was going. All she knew was that she was running through a house. For some reason she was deathly afraid. She couldn't figure out why. Then she saw a dim light in front of her. She smiled in relief and ran straight for it. She burst into a very familiar room with a single candle lit. The fear came back stronger than ever. Her eyes focused on one spot on the floor. Two bodies were on the floor covered in blood. She knew who they were.
Her voice was filled with fear, pain, and sadness when she cried out, "Mommy! Daddy!"
Something moved in one of the shadows. A scream tore from her throat as dark eyes focused on her and a razor sharp smile formed on the shadows face. He was coming towards her. She turned and began to run away but it was like she was running in place while he kept getting closer and closer to her. She screamed again.
"Kaoru!" Gaara shouted. Her crimson eyes were wide open but they weren't seeing him. She struggled against something that was terrifying her. He pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her. His voice was demanding as he repeated himself, "Kaoru, wake up."
Kaoru whimpered but her struggles stopped. She gripped his shirt in both hands and snuggled closer. Her body was still shaking. He just held her while she began to calm down again. Gaara had been reading a book when he heard her scream. He rushed to her side as fast as he could. It had just been a dream and that relieved him. At the same time it worried him.
"I'm sorry, Gaara-kun," she whispered. Her shaking was finally subsiding into a small trembling.
"For what?"
"I didn't mean to disturb you."
Gaara suppressed the urge to growl but his voice still held some of it, "What makes you think that matters to me? First of all, I don't sleep so it isn't like you woke me up. Second, you're my friend, Kaoru. If the situation was reversed would you care at all that I woke you up?"
She shook her head.
"Then just say thank you."
She smiled, "Thank you, Gaara-kun."
"Tell me about it," he ordered.
She didn't have to ask what he was talking about. Kaoru drew in a deep breath and told him everything she remembered about the dream. Her voice shook slightly, "You already know part of it. It was about the night my parents were killed..."
Gaara listened to her without comment. Kaoru finished telling him about it, "It's always the same dream too. To be honest I don't know why there is always the shadow in the room. But he's always there with those dark eyes and evil smile."
"Do you remember seeing someone else there that night?" he asked.
"No. Actually I blacked out. When I woke up, Hayate-sama was carrying me out of the house and there were police crawling all over the place."
He frowned and thought about everything she had told him. It was possible that the person who had killed her parents had still been in the room. It's possible that she had been knocked out by that person. Maybe her subconscious might be trying to remind her. Gaara eventually just shrugged it off. If she remembered he would help her deal with it. In the mean time he would just keep the nightmares at bay.
While he had been thinking about her nightmare, Kaoru had begun to fall asleep. Gaara always made her feel so safe and secure. She felt her eyes closing and knew that she wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer. Gaara looked down when he felt her snuggle closer. She was sound asleep. He felt the smile tug at his mouth. The Kazekage settled back against the headboard then fell into a light sleep himself.
Kaoru woke up by herself the next morning. She sat up and looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. A voice got her attention from the doorway, "You're awake."
She looked over with a smile, "Morning, Gaara-kun. I'll be out in just a minute."
He nodded and left her to get ready. Kaoru came into the kitchen a few minutes later. Her friends were at the table eating. Other than that she only recognized two other people at the table. One was Kyo and the other was Daichi, the head councilman. She assumed the rest were members of the Kawaguchi clan. A woman sat next to him and had her dark hair up in a bun. She gazed at Kaoru with dark blue eyes. An old man sat at the end of the table and was also gazing at Kaoru through sharp golden eyes.
Kyo was sitting at the table too and gave her a large smile. He was sitting next to a woman with a shy smile around Kaoru's age. He waved cheerfully, "Good morning, Kaoru-san. Please have a seat and join us for breakfast."
Kaoru took the seat in between Gaara and Sasori. Both men nodded to her in greeting and Temari waved at Kaoru from the other side of Sasori. Kaoru smiled at all of them the looked at Kyo, "Good morning, Kyo-san. Please just call me Kaoru. No one adds the suffixes to my name."
"Then call me Kyo. You're family after all. Let me introduce you to everyone. This is my wife, Ayame, my father, Daichi, and my mother, Megumi. That's our grandfaher, Makoto."
Kaoru smiled at them, "It's nice to meet you. These are my friends. Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage, his sister Temari, and a friend of mine, Akasun."
Everyone exchanged the usual 'nice to meet yous' then Makoto turned his attention back to Kaoru, "So you're the granddaughter that I never met. Your father went through a lot of trouble to keep it that way."
Kaoru's hands fisted under the table. She had been only been a child when she lived here but even then she had known that her father's family hadn't wanted her. It hadn't been her father that had kept the distance between them. It had been the Kawaguchi's that had pushed her father and his family away. A hand covered her fisted hands. She looked up into Gaara's sea foam eyes. She smiled at him and let her hands relax again.
She looked back at her grandfather, "Yes, sir."
"Well, it looks like you've done well in life."
Gaara was looking at Makoto with cold eyes. He would give Kyo a benefit of a doubt because he had been a child at the time. Makoto however had definitely been old enough to know that he was treating Kaoru wrong. Now the old man was blaming it on her father like she didn't know why she was living with the Tsukinos instead of them. Makoto met his gaze for a second then looked away. Gaara smirked, "She's now our top medical nin and a member of Suna's council."
Daichi looked at Kaoru in surprise, "I though you were only 16."
"She is only 16 years old. Kaoru was 14 when she joined the council," Temari added with a grin. She knew what her brother was up to. He wanted the Kawaguchi's to regret the way they treated Kaoru. So he told them of her accomplishments. They would see what t jewel they had let get away. Not only that but it would remind Kaoru that she was worth something even though these people didn't think so.
Everyone at the table but the sand nins looked at Kaoru in surprise. Kyo smiled, "Way to go cuz."
Kaoru gave a small shy smile, "I'm not that great. I only got the position because Yuri-sensei is training me to take her place when she retires."
"Who's Yuri?" Kyo's wife, Ayame, asked quietly. She had silver hair and eyes so blue they were almost purple. Unlike the others at the table she was a civilian.
"She's the head of Suna's medical core," Kaoru answered with a smile.
"How long have you been training?" Kyo asked curiously. He was eager to get to know his cousin. He could never understand his grandfather's dislike of the girl especially after he had met her. Kaoru was obviously a kind girl. Her best friend was Sabaku no Gaara after all. The man was once called a monster that was impossible to befriend yet she had. From what he had heard she did it with little trouble.
"Since I was about six years old. Yuri pulled me out of the ninja academy to train me as a medic."
"How did that happen?"
She smiled, "Well we were being trained how to control our chakra control. I was the first to understand and Yuri-sensei was watching. She asked me if I had any plans for my future and when I told her I didn't she offered to teach me to be a medical nin."
The conversation between the cousins went on. Kaoru was just a eager to learn about the only family she had on her father's side that was interested in her. They talked about everything they could think of. Ayame joined in the conversation several times as did Temari. Gaara and Sasori were both finding it amusing that one side of the table was lively and happy while the other was quiet and sober. They exchanged a look and came to an agreement. This could be a very interesting two weeks.
That's it for now. I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible. Now just in case you think you are I should tell you...you're not finished with this chapter. Want to know why? If you're still reading this then you haven't reviewed yet and you're not finished with this chapter until you've reviewed.